NOXUBEE COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI) — A Noxubee County group is preserving an important pieces of history while creating a new one at the same time.

The Dancing Rabbit Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution is trying to collect signatures of every living veteran in the county on a quilt.

They kicked off the project at an event Friday and will continue collecting with more events during the next year and with visits to nursing homes, reunions and other functions.

Once completed, the Patriot Quilt will join one from World War I and another from World War II in the Noxubee County historical society’s collection.

“To honor our veterans and we felt like this was a lasting way to do it,” DAR Regent Ann Tindal said of the project.

“A lot of the children in this county really don’t know how many veterans that we have and how many have served and with a project like this they’ll be able to see this years from now,” added Noxubee County Veterans Affairs Officer Sarah Wells.

Organizers think as many as 550 living veterans may have ties to the county.